Taking care of business

My peeps, the Mojo Mom Advisory Circle!
For the last week I've been taking care of family business, and now I ready to dive back in to Mojo Mom business. This summer needs to be a combination of a break (as in vacation, woo-hoo!) and an exploration of what's next. I don't want to make any promises up front---I really need to give myself the freedom of having a couple of months "off" before making new commitments. I can tell you that I am thinking about how I can continue to bring the best information I possibly can to my Mojo Mom audience.

Today I am meeting with the Mojo Mom Advisory Circle, which is a great place to start. We always stir up a lot of energy. Right now I want to revel in a sea of possibilities, really giving that some time, and then channeling that mojo into a new direction.

This time off is also giving me a chance to spend time with my favorite people, to pay attention and take care of family details that were pushed by the wayside under book deadlines. The pendulum has swung and for the summer, I am feeling like a stay-at-home Mom again, which to be honest is both fun and a little uncomfortable. My exact words to my husband were, "Don't get used to it." I am enjoying my family time (a big swim team commitment has turned out to be really fun, for example) and I am also overwhelmed by the fact that family management tasks can literally fill up the whole day if I let it. I have to be careful to deliberately carve out time for writing; not just for blogging (which I also hope to resume on a more regular basis!) but for the kind of writing that will help me chart a direction for my next project.

Housework & bill paying could fill up a whole day, and so could surfing the web in the process of blogging. So can the tasks associated with any paid career, of course. We have to become fierce protectors of not only our personal lives, but time for our creative pursuits, if we hope to have any! I have recently read the book How to Write a Lot which is a slim little volume that gave me a kick in the pants to get on a writing schedule. It made me remember the days when I started writing seriously. My daughter was in toddler preschool Monday, Wedensday and Friday mornings from 9 to 11:30 am. I was hungry for the opportunity to write, and I protected that time. I'd like to get back to that place and mindset this summer. I am comforted by the knowledge that even six hours of focused, unplugged (from the internet) writing a week can take me anywhere I need to go.

So stay tuned...good things to come. Thanks for your encouragement along the way!